The Buddhist Art of Gandhara: The Story of the Early School, its Birth, Growth and Decline c15: Chapter 9. Early Maturity Period
The Buddhist Art of Gandhāra: The Story of the Early School, its Birth, Growth and Decline c15
- Language
- English
Chapter 9. Early Maturity Period
c15.2
(FIGS. 87-112)
c15.3
In the description which follows of typical sculptures belonging to the first phase of the Maturity period I shall start with the Sanghao-Nathu group, some earlier examples of which have already been noticed. Although provincial in character this group has the advantage of being relatively small and compact, with a style that is easily recognizable, and no doubts about the provenance of the pieces; so that the task of arranging them in chronological sequence is much simplified.
c15.4
Fig. 87,¹ a slab of greyish-white micaceous schist, came from the Upper Monastery at Nathu, and is now in the Calcutta Museum. Like fig. 72, from the Lower Monastery at the same spot, it depicts the death of the Buddha, but is of later date. A comparison of the two panels is instructive. In both the faulty modelling of the eyes is conspicuous, and in both the drapery folds are coarse and rough. These defects are characteristic of the majority of the sculptures belonging to this group and persisted throughout most of its history. On the other hand, there are marked differences between these two panels. In the late one, the limbs of the Buddha have lost all trace of suppleness; he is now like a stiffly frontal statue laid on its side. Moreover, he is provided with a rimmed halo behind his head, and his hands and feet are enveloped in the folds of his robe. As to the group of mourners round the couch, their number has been reduced from twelve to nine by omitting three of the monks, including the prostrate Ānanda; and the Vajrapāṇi, transformed from a robed and bearded man into a half-naked youth (a type we have already encountered among the Sikri sculptures), now takes his place at the head of the couch. But the most significant change is in the faces of the mourners. In fig. 68, the earliest version of the Parinirvāṇa known to us in Gandhāra, the artist was at great pains to show the signs of grief and weeping on their faces. And in fig. 72 the sorrow is still apparent, though there are no actual tears to be seen. But in fig. 87 all trace of sorrow has gone. Every one of the actors—*devas*, monk, chiefs, the Vajrapāṇi, even the dying Buddha himself—wear the same pleasant and fatuous smile. For all that their expressions mean, they might just as well be assisting at a marriage as at a death. We must not, however, deny all merit to the author of this relief. Granted that it possesses no spiritual or emotional significance, yet there is undoubted charm of a decorative kind in the grouping of the figures and in their winsome countenances. I know of no other sculpture in which this particular cast of countenance occurs, and the credit for it, such as it is, must therefore go to the sculptor's personal inventiveness. The pity is that his example pointed the way to that facile duplication of pleasing faces which was to become one of the hall-marks of later Gandhāra art. Yet another noticeable feature of this relief is the exaggerated size of the figures in the back row compared with those in front. This artificial defiance of the laws of perspective can be seen also in fig. 90.
c15.5
¹ This is the earliest photograph I possess of this interesting piece. It was taken, I think, some seventy-five years ago when the sculpture was unearthed. In a later photograph, reproduced in Foucher's *A.G.-B.G.* vol. II, fig. 437, the two centre figures on the further side of the couch have lost their heads; and in a still later photograph recently supplied by the Calcutta Museum, the figure on the right of the same row has also lost his head, and the right *śāla* tree has been damaged.
c15.6
The next relief (fig. 88) also comes from Nathu, and is now in the Calcutta Museum. It illustrates the presentation to the Buddha of a mango grove by the courtesan Āmrapālī. To indicate the occasion, the Buddha is portrayed seated under a canopy of mango leaves and fruit. On his right is Āmrapālī with her lady companions; on his left, two of the Licchavi nobles, and beyond them the Vajrapāṇi and a *deva*. That Āmrapālī is in the act of making a gift is shown by the ceremonial water-vessel in her hands. The wreaths which she and her companions wear on their heads are survivals of the wreaths so fashionable among the upper classes of Graeco-Parthian society. All the figures in this panel, except the Buddha, have the same bulging eyes that we noticed in the preceding relief as well as in figs. 69-72. Evidently the sculptor made a special, though not very successful, effort to avoid this distortion in the case of the Buddha, but when he came to the subsidiary figures, old habit proved too strong for him, as it did also when he was carving the small standing Buddha on the face of the adjacent pilaster. Other noteworthy features of this panel are the heavy canopy of mango leaves, akin to the canopies in figs. 100 and 101 below, as well as to those on some of the Sikri slabs, e.g. fig. 77, and the modelling of the drapery folds, which shows a growing sense of line and substance, though the execution is still uncompromisingly hard. Observe, too, how the ubiquitous *śāla* trees are still introduced, as a cliché to mark the Buddha’s presence, though they have nothing to do with the episode of Āmrapālī’s gift.
c15.7
Most of the sculptures from the Sanghao-Nathu area are in the style illustrated by the two foregoing reliefs, but there are not a few from the same area which display a noticeably different style. Two of these are reproduced in figs. 89 and 90. The former, which is of greyish-white micaceous schist, comes from the Upper Monastery at Nathu and is now in the Calcutta Museum. It represents a *yakṣī* standing beneath a *śāla* tree. Such *yakṣī* figures were common enough in Gandhāra art, but it was only in the Sanghao-Nathu area that they acquired the ultra-smart and fashionable appearance of this figure. The pose under the *śāla* tree is much the same as that of Māyā in the Birth scene. The wreath on her head was, as already noticed, of Graeco-Parthian origin, but in other respects her dress and ornaments are Indian. The former consist of a dhoti, long-sleeved jacket or coatee and scarf; the latter of a forehead medallion, ear-rings, two necklaces, crossed breast-chain (of which only the top is visible), hip-girdle, wrist bangles and anklets. But the most striking feature of this *yakṣī* is her long, slanting eyes, all the more striking because they are so completely different from the bulging eyes which normally distinguished the sculptures of this group. What, one wonders, was the artist’s reason for introducing this strange new feature? Was it simply because of the difficulty he and his fellow artists had to model the natural Indian eye? Or was it because he aimed at giving his *yakṣī* a look that was not quite human, as her nature might seem to demand? Probably the latter is the true answer; for it is not long after this that a somewhat similar though less accentuated treatment is found in images of the Buddha, and in their case it can hardly be doubted that the sculptors fully appreciated the value of these weird un-Indian eyes in giving the Buddha a far-away, unearthly and superhuman look without unduly conflicting with his otherwise formal features. Nor can we doubt that it was this suggestion of other-worldliness in the half-closed eyes that caused its almost universal adoption for the Buddha’s images throughout the Buddhist world, though the expansion of Buddhism to the Middle and Far East, where Mongolian eyes are the rule rather than the exception, has doubtless been an important factor in perpetuating this characteristic feature until the present day.
c15.8
One other detail of this interesting *yakshi* statue that calls for a passing remark is the light scarf wound in flowing curves round her right shoulder and arm. Scarves treated in this flowing fashion were used effectively as ornamental adjuncts in many sculptures belonging to this group (e.g. *A.M.I.* pls. 113-15) as well as in earlier sculptures of the Graeco-Parthian group (e.g. fig. 44 above).
c15.9
The second example of this particular style (fig. 90) is a fragment of chloritized micaceous schist, which was found at Loriyān Tangai and is now in the Calcutta Museum. I have included it here because it furnishes another illustration of the ornamental scarf alluded to above, and also shows the effect which the slanting eyes were beginning to have on the more normal modelling of that feature. Of what scene this small fragment formed a part is questionable, but perhaps a clue may be given by the *deva* at the back with two fingers to his lips as if in the act of whistling. A similar figure, making the same gesture of rejoicing, occurs in the Birth scene illustrated in *A.G.-B.G.* vol. I, fig. 154, p. 306. For the exaggerated size of the figures in the back row compare figs. 87 above and 95 below.¹
c15.10
¹ Cf. also *Monuments of Sāñchī*, vol. II, pl. XXXVI c.
c15.11
There remains the ornamental base reproduced in fig. 91. This fragment, which is now in the Calcutta Museum, is known to have come from the Lower Monastery at Nathu, but, even if we had not known this, we should have had a safe clue to its provenance in the large bulging eyes of the *devas* and Erotes. The motif of the ‘garland and Erotes’ was of Hellenistic origin and was widely diffused throughout Western Asia, including Gandhāra, where it became a prime favourite in the second and third centuries A.D. The basis of the design is a row of Erotes (*yakshas*) supporting an undulating garland on their shoulders, but there is much variety in the accessories and details. In its simplest and earliest form, the garland is of the imbricated-leaf pattern, but later on this pattern is elaborated by binding the garland at intervals with ribbons and enriching it with various foliate and other designs (cf. fig. 148 and *Taxila*, vol. II, p. 709, nos. 72, 73, and vol. III, pl. 216). Again, the Erotes are generally nude with necklaces and Indian anklets only to relieve their nudity, but in rare cases they wear a loin cloth, in others they have no anklets. At the bottom of the loops between the Erotes there usually hang bunches of fruit, or fruit and leaves, but occasionally these are omitted; and the spaces immediately above them are, in most examples, occupied by winged *devas* or *devīs*, but in other examples by birds with outstretched wings or bunches of leaves. Such features are helpful in determining the age of individual pieces. In fig. 91, the Erotes or *yakshas* are standing to the front, wearing Indian anklets and holding cymbals and drum in their hands. The garland is of the simple imbricated-leaf pattern, with bunches of fruit at the bottom of its folds, while in the spaces above are winged figures playing on stringed instruments. Taken together, these features denote a fairly early date for this composition, and it is certainly earlier than fig. 148, but I do not think that it can be placed much before the close of the early phase of the Maturity Period. More will be said on this subject when we come to deal with fig. 148.
c15.12
From the foregoing sculptures of the provincial Sanghao-Nathu group we turn to those which are more in the main current of Gandhāra art. These comprise several distinct styles, which anyone familiar with the subject will easily recognize, but there is little or no evidence to show to which particular localities they appertained. That one important centre was located at Pushkalāvatī (modern Chārsada), the ancient capital of Gandhāra, is, on the face of it, highly probable and is borne out by the exceptionally good quality of some of the reliefs found on that spot. It has long been recognized, too, that other important centres of activity were situated in the Swāt Valley and in the neighbourhood of Haḍḍa in Southern Afghānistān; and it may safely be assumed that, after the transfer of the capital from Pushkalāvatī to Purushapura (modern Peshāwar), yet another centre was developed at the latter city. But we are still very much in the dark about these different local groups, and about others also that must have existed in the remoter parts of the Peshāwar Valley and adjacent hill tracts, wherever stone suitable for this kind of sculpture was procurable and enough Buddhist settlements existed to maintain a steady demand for the sculpture. For the present, therefore, and until more information on the subject is available, we must be content to differentiate where we can between the several styles, and leave it to others to determine where each of them was evolved.
c15.13
Of the sculptures of this period which I have selected for illustration, one of the earliest is fig. 92—a small relief of chloritic schist, now in the British Museum, which is alleged to have come from Takht-i-Bahī. The scene portrayed is the ‘Sleep of the women’. In the centre is the princess
c15.15
Yaśodharā asleep on a cushioned couch, her hand under her cheek and a garland still on her head. Beside her, sitting on the side of the couch, is her husband the Bodhisattva, haloed and in princely attire. At the side of the couch, in the foreground, the ladies of the palace have fallen asleep over their drums. At the back, on the right, are a female guard and attendant; on the left, presumably the groom Chandaka carrying his master's head-dress and leading the horse Kaṇṭhaka by the bridle, but these two figures are too damaged to be identified with certainty. Framing the scene on either side are two Corinthian pilasters with rounded shafts in countersunk panels, like those in figs. 43-7, 54, 55, etc., but of later form. In design and workmanship the panel leaves much to be desired, but it is not without considerable charm, and in spite of its shortcomings—the stilted pose, for example, of the Bodhisattva with his feet dangling over the side of the bed, and the careless, unsteady chiselling of the drapery folds—it is evident that the artist has made a genuine effort to bring his imagination into play and to express in his own way the overpowering effect of the heaven-sent slumber which took possession of the womenfolk on the night the Bodhisattva fled from the palace. Stylistically the relief has much in common with fig. 58, and more remotely with figs. 54 and 55, but its date is later and the influence of the Early Indian School is more apparent in the decorative, tapestry-like grouping of the figures. The sleepers' smooth and pretty faces, too, like those already noticed in fig. 87, are a foretaste of what, a generation later, was to become one of the most familiar features of Gandhāra art. But for these traits, the relief might well have been referred to the preceding period. As it is, I think we must give it a place at the outset of the Maturity period. Another and later relief in the British Museum illustrating the same theme is reproduced in *A.G.-B.G.* vol. II, fig. 447, but the design is much inferior and the postures of the sleeping women could hardly be more uncomely.
c15.16
In my excavations at the Dharmarājikā Stūpa at Taxila I found several fragments of much larger panels depicting the same 'Sleeping Women' scene¹ (cf. *Taxila*, vol. II, pp. 713-14, nos. 98-100), one of which is shown in fig. 93. It exhibits three sleeping figures, with traces of a fourth at the right-hand top corner. One of the three is seated on a high-backed wicker chair with legs crossed and arm bent to support her drooping head; another, on the left, rests her head against her hand; the third, in the background, holds a six-stringed instrument. In this, as in other fragments of the same kind from the Dharmarājikā, the shapes of the women are strikingly rounded and full, and their thin clinging draperies serve well to reveal the lines of their figures. This marks a new development in Gandhāra art. Roughly speaking, there are two diametrically opposite methods of representing the folds of drapery. One, which was the normal Greek method, was to cut away the mass of the fabric, leaving the folds projecting from the surface, as they naturally do. The other method, which was commonly favoured by Roman sculptors, was to indicate the folds merely by deep-cut shadow lines, leaving the mass of material between them intact. Of these two methods it was the Greek one that was universally followed by the sculptors of Gandhāra in the first and second centuries A.D. and, whatever variations were introduced, the underlying principle remained the same. Thus, if we compare fig. 93 with, for example, fig. 57, we see that in both cases the sculptor was following the Greek practice, the only difference between them being that, whereas in the earlier work the draperies were thicker and looser and the folds more numerous and heavy, in the later the draperies were thin and tight-fitting while the folds were kept sparse and slight so as to bring out the shapeliness of the forms beneath and interfere as little as possible with the clarity of the composition as a whole. And an added advantage, of course, was that this treatment reduced the labour of chiselling to a minimum without unduly sacrificing either charm or effectiveness. In the above generalization I have naturally not taken account of the hasty and slovenly method of depicting draperies exemplified in figs. 58 and 59, where superficially incised lines are used, with a sort of pictorial effect, to represent the folds.
c15.17
¹ The stone of these panels has been identified with phyllite by one expert, as chloritized micaceous schist by another.
c15.18
The light and sketchy treatment of the women's dress which distinguishes fig. 93 is to be seen in a panel of phyllite depicting Māyā's dream, which was found in the Kālawān monastery at Taxila (fig. 94). Occupying the centre of the picture is the queen's bedchamber, flanked by vaulted corridors supported on Persepolitan pillars. In the middle of the chamber Māyā is lying asleep on a draped couch, her head raised on a high pillow. Beside her, at the head of the couch, stands a female attendant, while another, spear in hand, keeps guard at the foot and two more wait in the vaulted corridors. To the right, above the queen’s head, is a gallery, from which two seated figures, presumably *devas*, are looking down, and to the left of it the defaced stone shows the outline of the haloed Bodhisattva descending in the form of an elephant. The legs of the queen’s couch are carved to represent the stylized fronts of horned animals. The pillars supporting the roof are of the Persepolitan order but, strange to say, they were never provided with shafts. This is evident from the fact that the base of the pillar on the right is not vertically in line with the bell capital above. The style of the relief is unusual. In the architectural setting and disposition of the figures the sculptor has followed an established tradition; and in the modelling of the well-developed forms and comely faces of the women and even in depicting one of the attendants with her back to the spectator he has done only what other artists at this period were doing; but in other essential factors of the design—in the unusually open spacing of the figures and the simplified refinement of the details, which combine to give a quiet dignity and charm to this relief—he has drawn on his own originality and good taste. For further particulars, cf. *Taxila*, vol. II, p. 712, no. 92, and vol. III, pl. 218, no. 92.
c15.19
We now come to some miscellaneous pieces which are referable to this period but cannot easily be linked with any particular group. Among them I give an early and prominent place to fig. 95, which was formerly in the possession of Maj.-Gen. H. L. Haughton, but is now, I believe, in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. Mr Hargreaves, who published it in the *Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society* (1951, pp. 131-3 and pl. IV), is clearly right in interpreting it as the child Bodhisattva going to school in a ram-cart, accompanied by his school-fellows carrying their writing-boards and ink-pots. At first sight, the relief might appear to belong rather to the close of the Adolescent Period than to the beginning of this one, but the sketchy treatment of the boys’ tunics, coupled with the highly refined modelling of their young faces and of the rams’ heads, and the slight stylization of the indispensable *śāla* tree in the corner—all point to the later date. A prominent feature of this panel is the exaggerated size of the four figures in the background in relation to those in front. This disregard of the laws of perspective has already been noticed in connexion with figs. 87 and 90, but it is rare in Gandhāra reliefs, and does not appear to be a trait of any particular group. In this case, the author’s main concern has been with the minutiae of the individual figures rather than with the composition as a whole, and it was probably for this reason that he went out of his way to show the four figures in the background on an exaggerated scale. Had they been in correct perspective, they would have been too small for him to display his skill in varying the details of their features and hair-dressing. The relief is said to have been found in the Chārsada Tehsil of the Peshāwar District.
c15.20
A hint as to the district which may have produced the preceding sculptures is afforded by some fragmentary reliefs found by Professor Vogel and myself at Chārsada in 1902-3 and particularly by the phyllite panel illustrated in fig. 96, which was found in the ruins of Palātu-Dherī. What is left of it comprises seven partly mutilated figures, namely, the Buddha standing in the centre, with the Vajrapāṇi and a monk on his right, two *devas* above them in the background, and two other headless figures on the Buddha’s left. The episode in the Buddha’s career which is here portrayed has not been identified and there is no need for us to speculate about it here. What concerns us is the masterly handling of the drapery, which though fuller and more elaborately modelled than in the two preceding examples, is designed like them to show off the natural shapes underneath. Which of them is the earlier it would be difficult to say, but it is noteworthy that the *deva* head behind the Buddha’s right shoulder is of the same moustached type as those we encountered in figs. 59, 62, 68, and though manifestly posterior to them, points to a relatively early date for this relief.
c15.21
The same type of moustached *deva* head may be seen in fig. 97—a small panel of chloritic schist which is now in the British Museum. In this case the *deva* heads are more closely akin to those of the Adolescent Period, and this affinity is borne out by the treatment of the drapery. On the other hand, the short stocky figures and individualistic faces of the worshippers point to a near relationship with sculptures of this period such as fig. 98. The subject depicted in this relief is the ‘Adoration of a stūpa’, and we should note, in passing, the continuous garland supported on brackets which adorns the base of the dome—a motif to which reference has already been made. On the right of the stūpa are a male and a female lay-worshipper, the former holding an incense-burner; on the left, two shaven monks. Above, in the background, are six *devas*, the two nearest the stūpa with haloes and lotuses in their hands. Four of the six have their faces mutilated.
c15.22
The label attached to this panel in the British Museum states that it was given to the museum in 1902 by Captain B. C. Waterfield and that it came from Buner. This must, I think, be a mistake, since the sculpture is one of a group which was photographed in the Swāt Valley some years before 1902.¹
c15.23
¹ Cf. *Catalogue of Photo-negatives in the Office of the Director-General of Archaeology in India* (Calcutta, 1920), p. 218, no. 2355.
c15.24
The following relief (fig. 98) comes from the Dharmarājikā Stūpa at Taxila and is of phyllite stone. The scene depicted has not been identified. In the centre sits the Buddha enthroned, in the *abhaya-mudrā*, with the Vajrapāṇi and seven female devotees on his right and left. The Buddha wears a moustache, the Vajrapāṇi a bushy beard as well as a moustache. Of the devotees, three—a young mother and two children—stand on the Buddha's right; the other four on his left—two elderly ones in front and two middle-aged behind. The figures are of much the same stocky build as those in the preceding relief and are distinguished by the same highly realistic countenances. But there is a noticeable difference in the treatment of the eyes; for, whereas in fig. 97 the eyes are more or less normal in shape, here they are pear-shaped and slanting, not unlike those of the *yakshi* in fig. 89. As in the case of fig. 89, this unwonted shape of the eye was doubtless intended to give the countenance an other-worldly, superhuman look, and it is reasonable to assume that in adopting it the artist was thinking primarily of the Buddha, and that he subsequently extended it to some other members of the group.
c15.25
In fig. 3, above, we saw how a sculptor of the Early School portrayed the Birth of the Buddha by setting the figure of his mother, Māyā, on a lotus (the symbol of miraculous birth), with two Nāga elephants pouring the lustral water over her head. The picture was a formal and symbolic one, but as good, perhaps, as could be devised in an age when it was not permissible to represent the person of the Buddha himself. Here, in fig. 99, we see the more graphic and realistic way in which a sculptor of the Gandhāra School was able to portray the same event. In the centre, Māyā is standing under a *śāla* tree and grasping one of its branches. On her right are four deities, one of whom is delivering the infant from the side of his mother, while the rest look on in reverential attitudes. Balancing the deities on the other side of Māyā are her lady companions: first, her sister Mahāprajāpatī, who is supporting her; then a lady carrying a vessel of lustral water, and, behind her, a maid, gazing in astonishment at what is happening. Above the group are celestials, adoring the new-born Buddha. This nativity scene is the subject of many Gandhāra sculptures, some more abbreviated than this one, but all conforming more or less to the same stereotype pattern. Among them I know of only one that is of earlier date than fig. 99, namely, a panel from the Guides' Mess at Mardān, which is in precisely the same style as figs. 54 and 55 above and, like them, referable to the Adolescent Period. In all these other reliefs, both early and late, the deity playing the part of midwife is recognizable as Indra, and the one next to him as Brahmā. This was strictly in accord with the version of the Nativity story current in Gandhāra. But there was another version, found in the Pāli scriptures, in which the Regents of the Four Quarters took the place of Indra and Brahmā, and it is evidently this version which, by exception, was followed in fig. 99, where the deities on the right of Māyā are four in number and are all wearing the same head-dress.
c15.26
Another noteworthy feature of this carving is the pretty but doll-like and rather fatuous expression on the ladies' faces. It is a feature to which I have already drawn attention in several earlier reliefs, notably, figs. 87, 88, 92 and 93, and a feature to which we shall frequently have to recur, as it assumes increasingly greater importance in the later phases of the School.
c15.27
We may now turn to another group of contemporary sculptures in a markedly different style, several examples of which were found at the Dharmarājikā Stūpa at Taxila. A characteristic feature of this group is the tall athletic build of the male figures, with powerful sloping shoulders, strong hips and thighs, tapering legs and rather small ankles and feet. Another characteristic is the somewhat sketchy nature of the drapery, frequently distinguished by the shallow flattened edges of its folds. A third characteristic, but one which is not confined to these sculptures alone, is the highly elaborated canopy of leaves over the throne of the Buddha. The three examples of this group figured below are all of phyllite stone and all from the Dharmarājikā Stūpa. The scene depicted in the first of them (fig. 100) appears to be the miracle at the foot of the mango tree at Śrāvastī, also depicted in figs. 122-5. Under a canopy of mango leaves the Buddha is seated on a grass-strewn throne, his right hand turned outwards above his knee. On his left, King Prasenajit is sitting on a cushioned seat with his courtiers behind. On his right is the faithful Vajrapāṇi in monkish garb, and in front of the Vajrapāṇi two naked tīrthaṅkaras, one seated on a round stool, the other—a man of singularly ill-favoured looks—standing. For the earlier version of the miracle which seems to be followed here, see *Monuments of Sāñchī*, pl. xxxiv, A, 1.
c15.28
The next example (fig. 101) may well be from the same atelier as the preceding though not, I judge, by the same hand. The scene represented is uncertain. In the centre is the Buddha under a canopy of pipal leaves. On his right is a bearded anchorite clad in a deerskin and holding a flask (*kamaṇḍalu*) in his hand, who calls to mind the familiar figure of the Purāṇa Kāśyapa. On the Buddha’s left is a princely-looking personage, standing erect with his right hand outstretched as if in salutation, while his courtier behind clasps his hands in adoration. In the background behind is the headless figure of a *deva*. The relief is much damaged and the face of the Buddha is obliterated, but the tall dignified figure of the prince with its elegant proportions, strong frame and tapering legs, furnishes a typical example of this particular group.
c15.29
The third example (fig. 102) presents an unusual scene. In the centre, the Bodhisattva, who has the attributes of Maitreya, the future Buddha, is seated cross-legged on his throne under an elaborate baldachin. His right hand is raised in the *abhaya-mudrā*, his left holds a flask. The roof of the baldachin is supported on tall pillars, to the upper halves of which winged Erotes or *yakshas* are clinging. To the right and left of the throne is a haloed deity seated, European fashion, on a chair, and standing behind them are other figures, now much mutilated but one at least of whom can be recognized by his halo as a celestial. The scene has been interpreted as the *saṃcodana* or Entreaty, when the gods besought the Bodhisattva to leave his princely home and family in Kapilavastu in order to become the Buddha and save mankind, but it seems more likely to represent that other occasion in the Tushita heaven when the gods entreated the future Buddha to return to earth. I make this suggestion because, if the scene was laid at Kapilavastu, we should have expected the Bodhisattva to be shown in his usual princely attire. On the other hand, if it was in the Tushita heaven, it was natural that he should be represented as Maitreya. The two seated deities may be Indra and Brahmā, but they are too mutilated to allow of certain identification. It is in these two seated deities in particular, with their well-proportioned build, tapering legs and small feet, that we recognize the close connexion with the two preceding reliefs.
c15.30
Of about the same age as the foregoing and closely akin to them in the athletic build of the figures is a group of sculptures from Jamāl-Garhī, one of the earlier Buddhist foundations in Gandhāra. Three examples of these will suffice to demonstrate the emphasis laid on physical development. Fig. 103 is a part of a stele or *urdhvapatta* of greyish-white micaceous schist. The scene in the upper panel has not been identified; that in the lower is a later edition of fig. 69, namely, the submission of the Nāga Apalāla. But the artistry of the reliefs is of a very different order. In the earlier (fig. 69) the artist has given us a lively and dramatic picture of the incident, with little regard for the forms of the individual figures. In the later, he has paid as much attention to the correct anatomical modelling of each figure as to the effectiveness of the composition as a whole, and has imparted to his work a certain heroic quality which is seldom found outside this group. The same high standard is maintained in fig. 104, which tells so simply and convincingly the story of the simultaneous birth of the Bodhisattva's groom Chandaka and of his horse Kaṇṭhaka. The scene is set in the royal stables. There, side by side, we see the mother of Chandaka bathing her new-born child, and the dam of Kaṇṭhaka giving milk to her foal, while she herself receives a bran-mash from the hand of a royal groom; and in the background are the heads of other horses watching the double event from their stalls. The seated figure of the mother, with her well-developed limbs and refined, delicately chiselled face, is in keeping with other sculptures of this group, but there is no close parallel that I know of to the animals. The sympathetic feeling that the artist has put into their modelling calls to mind the two horses' heads on the East Gateway of the Great Stūpa at Sāñchī (fig. 8 above), though the style of the latter is very different.
c15.31
It is a pity that the next panel (fig. 105), depicting the wrestling match, is marred by the exaggerated forms of the two combatants in the foreground, due to the superhuman stature of the Bodhisattva, on which the sculptor no doubt thought it necessary to insist. Apart from this blemish the relief affords another good example of the importance which, in this group of sculptures, was attached to the athletic development of the human form, coupled with a highly refined miniature-like treatment of the facial features. A comparison of the muscular figure on the left side of the panel with the yaksha hurling the thunderbolt in the top left corner of fig. 103 suggests that the two reliefs may have emanated from the same atelier.
c15.32
Jamāl-Garhī, where the foregoing sculptures were found, has yielded many more of the same age which would well repay closer study. Parenthetically, it may be noted that Jamāl-Garhī was originally laid out on the same circular plan as the Dharmarājikā at Taxila, as distinguished from the later rectangular plans of such foundations as Jauliāñ, Mohrā Morādu or Takht-i-Bahī. Hence the large number of relatively early as well as late sculptures which Jamāl-Garhī, like the Dharmarājikā, has yielded, though it should be added that the Dharmarājikā was founded long before Jamāl-Garhī.
c15.33
Among the many miscellaneous reliefs of this period, which it is difficult to link up with any particular group, two of the most noteworthy are figs. 106 and 107. The former, a narrow frieze of phyllite from the Dharmarājikā at Taxila, has been sadly damaged, but enough remains to give a fair idea of its character. The story it recounts is the same Śyāma Jātaka that we met with in fig. 104. Here, the method of narration is in the Greek, not in the Indian, tradition. That is to say, the actors in the successive scenes are strung out in single file, as they habitually were in the friezes of Greek temples, though not strictly in chronological sequence. The right end of the frieze is missing, and the first act that we see is the king in hunting dress drawing his bow and an attendant behind him holding a quiver full of arrows. The wildness of the country is shown by the usual conventional rocks and vegetation, with a lion's head peering out from a cave. Then, beyond the rocks to the left, we see the boy Śyāma sinking to the ground with an arrow in his breast. In the next act, which shows the god Indra restoring the boy to life, Indra appears haloed and floating in the air with a flask of ambrosia in his hand, while the reviving Śyāma raises his hands above his head and the king looks on impassively. On the left of the frieze the figure of the king is twice more repeated; first, visiting the boy's blind and aged parents in their leafy hut and informing them, with appropriate gesture of the fingers, of what has happened to their son, and then leading them painfully to the scene of the miracle. The figures of the blind old couple are quite realistic and convincing, but the sculptor has clearly, in this case, been more concerned about the telling of the story, act by act, than about the modelling of the form or the delicate refinement of details. Indian influence, be it added, is somewhat more marked in the individual figures of this frieze than in most of the contemporary sculpture.
c15.34
The other relief (fig. 107), which comes from the monastery of Giri at Taxila, is without parallel in the Gandhāra School. It depicts the visit of Indra to the Buddha in the Indraśaila cave. The panel is divided horizontally by a railing into two compartments. In the lower, the Buddha is seated in meditation inside the cave, his hands and feet hidden in the folds of his robe. Outside the cave, on the Buddha's left, stands Indra, recognizable by his tall hat; and opposite to him, on the Buddha's right, Brahmā. Both deities are haloed. As if to accentuate the wildness of the spot, two pigs appear among the rocks in front of the cave. In the upper compartment four *devas*, like wingless angels, are emptying baskets of flowers over the front of the cave, two swooping down headlong with lithe and graceful forms, the other two bending gently forward and filling the space between them. And note, in passing, how skilfully the flying ends of the *devas'* scarves are used to enhance the sense of rapid movement as well as to indicate, as they do in figs. 89, 90 and 106, that the figures are of celestial birth. The pretty but rather meaningless faces of the four *devas* are akin to those already noticed in figs. 87, 88, 92, 94, 95 and 99, but the rhythmic grouping of the celestial figures and the happy conception of their flowery tribute to the Buddha are unique in Gandhāra art. Indeed, the nearest counterpart to the wingless angels is to be found, according to M. Foucher, in the Portail Royal of Chartres Cathedral (A.D. 1145-50).
c15.35
There remain only a few examples of detached images to be considered. The first of these (fig. 108) is a *yaksha* Atlant of the Herakles type, one of a number of such Atlants said to have come from Jamāl-Garhī and now in the Calcutta Museum. It is made of the grey micaceous schist much in use at this period, and in spite of its diminutive size (it is less than 8 in. high), it is a skilful and vigorous bit of modelling. Like figs. 52 and 145, it takes its lineage from Greek prototypes, but the differences between the three are very striking. The earliest (fig. 52), a Silenus-like winged figure, is the embodiment of strength in repose, in this respect contrasting with the Indian *yakshas* of fig. 12, which display not only giant strength but dynamic energy as well in their effort to uphold the superincumbent mass. In fig. 52, the *yaksha* is making no effort at all to bring his great muscles into play; he is merely squatting pleasantly at his ease. The same is true of the Herakles-like *yaksha* of fig. 108, but in this instance the artist has been at pains to give clearer definition to the facial features and muscular development of the limbs, and in other respects to keep as near as possible to his Hellenistic prototype; and his little figurine certainly does him credit. That such a purely classical type should have persisted on into the Maturity Period may, at first sight, seem surprising, but to the end Gandhāra art remained very partial to the use of Greek types and motifs. Thus, among the many members of the Greek pantheon represented among the sculptures of this period may be mentioned Zeus, Athene, Hermes, Dionysus and Eros, to say nothing of the countless little Erotes or Amorini used for decorative purposes. But when we come to the later part of the Maturity Period, we shall see, in fig. 145, a striking example of how such types could be affected by the growing tendency towards prettiness and effeminacy.
c15.36
In chapter 7 we have seen that the earliest known statues of the Buddha in the round, or virtually in the round, were the two illustrated in figs. 85 and 86, which like contemporary figures of the Buddha in relief were distinguished by wide-open prominent eyes, moustache, *ūrṇā*, large *uṣṇīṣa* and halo, and a monastic robe (*saṅghāṭī*) resembling the Greek *himation*. With figs. 109, 110 and 111 we again take up the story of the Buddha statue. The head and torso shown in fig. 110, which is now in the Lahore Museum, is 3 ft. 5 in. high and of grey micaceous schist, possibly chloritized. Its affinity to figs. 85 and 86 is manifest. It has the same kind of moustache, with *ūrṇā* and large flat *uṣṇīṣa*, the same treatment of the hair even to the thin cord confining it round the base of the *uṣṇīṣa*, the same outsize halo and the same draping of the *saṅghāṭī*. The main difference is in the eyes, which are now half-closed, giving them that far-away, other-worldly look which was eventually to become one of the standard traits of the Buddha type. But at the time this image was carved, there was still much vacillation among the Gandhāran sculptors about this particular feature. And so it happens that in this statue the eyelids are drawn close together, while in the two following examples they are left open. Indeed, it is true, I think, to say that throughout the first phase of the Maturity Period the treatment of the eyelids was a matter for the personal discretion of the artist, not one of canonical rule.
c15.37
To judge by the shape of the *uṣṇīṣa* and the less schematic treatment of the hair, fig. 109 is somewhat later than the foregoing, but the evidence is not conclusive. The eyes are wide-open but not prominent, as in figs. 85 and 86, and the pupils are defined; the *ūrṇā* is higher up the forehead than in the preceding figure; round the base of the *uṣṇīṣa* is a double string of beads with a medallion in front. The head, which has lost its ears and halo, is made of talcose chloritic schist. It came from the Moḥrā Morādu Monastery at Taxila.
c15.38
Between the next statue (fig. 111) and fig. 110 there is little apparent difference except in the eyes and in the quality of the workmanship, which is hardly up to the same standard. It is also significant that the material is not the usual micaceous schist of which most of the early sculptures of this period are made, but phyllite, which was just coming into use. The statue came from the Dharmarājikā Stūpa at Taxila.
c15.39
I conclude this chapter with a figure of Hāritī, consort of Pāñcika, which seems to sum up well the character of the Early Maturity Period (fig. 112). The panel, which is now in the Peshāwar Museum, came originally from Takht-i-Bahī, where it no doubt served as a spacer between larger panels in the decoration of a stūpa. Such spacers, adorned with figures of female guards, musicians, etc., like those in figs. 64, 65, were a common feature of Gandhāra art from an early date. In this example (fig. 112) the *devī* is shown standing erect on a vase under a canopy of leaves. Her dress is Indian; her ornaments are necklaces, bracelets and anklets. On her head is a chaplet of leaves, from which a veil falls down her back. On her left hip she carries, in the local fashion, the youngest of her many children. The figure of Hāritī is, as usual, full and matronly; her pose dignified and stately, giving her a madonna-like appearance. Of the age of this carving, its restrained classic style and the maturity of the modelling leave no room for doubt; for it was only in the early part of the Maturity Period that work of this calibre was produced. For the ungainly treatment of the lower folds of Hāritī’s veil, which resemble the shape of acanthus leaves, compare the decoration of a small stūpa in Sirkap (*Taxila*, vol. III, pl. 27 (a)) and on an early statuette of grey mica-schist from the Dharmarājikā (*ibid.* pl. 226, no. 179). See also the contemporary relief, fig. 101 above. For further details of the cult of Hāritī, cf. Foucher, *A.G.-B.G.* vol. II, pp. 130-42 and figs. 374-8.